Grand final rematch for A-League's opening round

A-League champions Central Coast will begin their title defence at home against Western Sydney Wanderers.

Football Federation Australia will release the draw for the 2013/14 season on Wednesday morning and Fairfax Media understands that the Mariners will host the premiers at Bluetongue Stadium in round one.

Shot at redemption: The Wanderers will travel to Gosford to open their A-League season in a grand-final rematch. Photo: Brendan Esposito

A chance for immediate redemption has been a regular fixture in the A-League with six seasons of the eight possible beginning with a grand final rematch. Only the opening rounds of the 2007/08 and 2009/10 seasons did not include such a fixture. The pairing of the Wanderers and the Mariners is also a repeat of round one last season where the two teams played out a scoreless stalemate at Parramatta Stadium.

Central Coast could receive as many as six of the nine games against NSW rivals at home after playing just three of those fixtures at Bluetongue last year. The Mariners were disappointed to miss out on so many of their crowd-pulling clashes last season and played just one game at home against Sydney FC, Western Sydney and Newcastle. It is understood that the FFA will make amends by giving the champions two home games against all three. Central Coast are set to continue their successful New Year's Eve fixture with Perth Glory the likely opponent.

The Wanderers are also looking to cash-in on the holiday period, and executive chairman Lyall Gorman hinted at a repeat of last seasons matches on public holidays.

"We'd like to have regularly events on the calendar. We held a game on New Year's Day which we would like to replicate and Australia Day." Gorman said.

Sydney FC will begin the season with a home game and it is understood they will be given their preference for the bulk of their home fixtures to be scheduled for Saturday nights. The Sky Blues identified the Saturday night kick-off as their best crowd-puller and the FFA is expected to grant that request for the majority of games at Allianz Stadium.

The upcoming season will start one week later than last year. The first game is set for Friday, October 11 and the grand final could be played as late as May. The FFA will push the finale back to the latest date ever in an attempt to accommodate the wishes of domestic-based players vying for places in the 2014 World Cup and to keep the end of the season in line with that of European competitions.